Committee on Energy, Industry and Labor, Economic
Development and Small Business then Finance.]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §11-13BB-1,
§11-13BB-2, §11-13BB-3, §11-13BB-4, §11-13BB-5, §11-13BB-6,
§11-13BB-7, §11-13BB-8, §11-13BB-9, §11-13BB-10, §11-13BB-11,
§11-13BB-12, §11-13BB-13 and §11-13BB-14; to amend and reenact
§22A-1-4 of said code; and to amend and reenact §22A-11-3 of
said code, all relating to providing a tax credit for purchase
of innovative mine safety technology; specifying short title;
specifying legislative findings and purpose; specifying
definitions; specifying requirements for list of approved
innovative mine safety technology; specifying amount of tax
credit allowed; specifying criteria for qualified investment;
specifying forfeiture of unused tax credits; specifying
treatment for transfer of certified eligible safety property
to successors; setting forth requirements for identification
of investment credit property; prescribing treatment for
failure to keep records of certified eligible safety property;
specifying tax credit review and accountability requirements;
specifying requirement for disclosure of tax credits;
authorizing issuance of rules; amending the duties of the
Director of the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety
and Training; and amending the duties of the Mine Safety
Technology Task Force.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §11-13BB-1, §11-13BB-2,
§11-13BB-3, §11-13BB-4, §11-13BB-5, §11-13BB-6, §11-13BB-7,
§11-13BB-8, §11-13BB-9, §11-13BB-10, §11-13BB-11, §11-13BB-12,
§11-13BB-13 and §11-13BB-14; that §22A-1-4 of said code be amended
and reenacted; and that §22A-11-3 of said code be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:

This article may be cited as the "West Virginia Innovative
Mine Safety Technology Tax Credit Act."

§11-13BB-2. Legislative findings and purpose.

The Legislature finds that the encouragement of new investment
in innovative coal mine safety technology in this state is in the
public interest and promotes the general welfare of the people of
this state.

§11-13BB-3. Definitions.

(a) Any term used in this article has the meaning ascribed by
this section, unless a different meaning is clearly required by the
context of its use or by definition in this article.

(b) For purposes of this article, the term:

(1) “Certified eligible safety property” means eligible safety
property in which an eligible taxpayer has made qualified
investment for which credit has been certified under this article.

(2) “Coal mining company” means:

(A) Any person subject to tax imposed on the severance of coal
by section three, article thirteen-a of this chapter; or

(B) Any person working as a contract miner of coal, which
mines coal in this state, under contract with a person subject to
tax imposed on the severance of coal by section three, article
thirteen-a of this chapter.

(3) “Director” means the Director of the Office of Miners’
Health, Safety and Training or West Virginia Office of Miners’
Health, Safety and Training established under article one, chapter
twenty two-a of this code.

(4) “Eligible safety property” means safety technology
equipment, that at the time of acquisition, is on the list of
approved innovative mine safety technology.

(6) “List of approved innovative mine safety technology” means
the list required to be compiled and maintained by the Mine Safety
Technology Task Force and approved and published by the director
under this article.

(7) “Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training” or “West
Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training” means the
Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training established under
article one, chapter twenty two-a of this code.

(8) "Person" includes any corporation, limited liability
company, or partnership.

(9) “Qualified investment” means the eligible taxpayer’s
investment in eligible safety property pursuant to a qualified
purchase as qualified and limited by section six of this article.

(10) "Qualified purchase” means and includes only acquisitions
of eligible safety property for use in this state.

(A) A lease of eligible safety property may constitute a
qualified purchase if the lease was entered into and became
effective at a time when the equipment is on the list of approved
innovative mine safety technology, and if the primary term of the
lease for the eligible safety property is five years or more.
Leases having a primary term of less than five years do not
qualify.

(B) "Qualified purchase" does not include:

(i) Purchases or leases of realty or any cost for, or related
to, the construction of any building, facility or structure
attached to realty;

(ii) Purchases or leases of any property not exclusively used
in West Virginia;

(iii) Repair costs including materials used in the repair,
unless for federal income tax purposes, the cost of the repair must
be capitalized and not expensed;

(iv) Motor vehicles licensed by the Department of Motor
Vehicles;

(v) Clothing;

(vi) Airplanes;

(vii) Off-premises transportation equipment;

(viii) Leases of tangible personal property having a primary
term of less than five years shall not qualify;

(ix) Property that is used outside this state; and

(x) Property that is acquired incident to the purchase of the
stock or assets of an industrial taxpayer, which property was or
had been used by the seller in his or her industrial business in
this state, or in which investment was previously the basis of a
credit against tax taken under any other article of this chapter.

(B) Acquisitions (including leases) of eligible safety
property may constitute qualified purchases for purposes of this
article only if:

(i) The property is not acquired from a person whose
relationship to the person acquiring it would result in the
disallowance of deductions under Section 267 or 707(b) of the
United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;

(ii) The property is not acquired from a related person or by
one component member of a controlled group from another component
member of the same controlled group. The Tax Commissioner may
waive this requirement if the property was acquired from a related
party for its then fair market value; and

(iii) The basis of the property for federal income tax
purposes, in the hands of the person acquiring it, is not
determined, in whole or in part, by reference to the federal
adjusted basis of the property in the hands of the person from whom
it was acquired; or under Section 1014(e) of the United States
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

(12) "Taxpayer" means any person subject to any of the taxes
imposed by article thirteen-a, twenty-three or twenty-four of this
chapter (or any combination of those articles of this chapter).

§11-13BB-4. List of approved innovative mine safety technology.(a) List of approved innovative mine safety technology. -– The
Mine Safety Technology Task Force, established in section two,
article eleven, chapter twenty-two-a of this code, shall annually
compile a proposed list of approved innovative mine safety
technologies. Such list shall be transmitted to the director for
approval. The director has thirty days to approve or amend the
list. At the expiration of thirty days, the director shall publish
the list of approved innovative mine safety technologies. The list
shall describe and specifically identify safety equipment for use
in West Virginia coal mines which, in the fiscal year when such
equipment is added to the list, is not required by the Mine Safety
and Health Administration of the United States Department of Labor
or the West Virginia Office Of Miners' Health, Safety And Training
or any other state or federal agency, to be used in a coal mine or
on a mine site or on any other industrial site. Safety equipment
shall remain on the list from year to year from the list until the
director removes it from the list. The Office of Miners’ Health,
Safety and until the director removes it from the list training may
establish by legislative rule or interpretive rule a shorter time
period for issuance of and updating of the list of approved
innovative mine safety technologies.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the list of
approved innovative mine safety technologies include only safety
equipment that is depreciable tangible personal property for
federal income tax purposes, which is so new to the industry and so
innovative in concept, design, operation or performance that, in
the fiscal year when it is added to the list of approved innovative
mine safety technologies, the equipment has not yet been adopted by
the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration or the West
Virginia Office of Mine Safety or any other state or federal agency
as required equipment to be used in a coal mine or on a mine site
or on any other industrial site.

(c) Delisting. -- (1) If any item of equipment or any line of
equipment or class of equipment is listed on the list of approved
innovative mine safety technologies in any fiscal year, but then is
subsequently adopted by the Federal Mine Safety and Health
Administration or the West Virginia Office of Mine Safety or any
other state or federal agency as required equipment to be used in
a coal mine or on a mine site or on any other industrial site, such
equipment shall be removed from the list of approved innovative
mine safety technologies compiled and issued for the next
succeeding periodic issuance thereafter of the list of approved
innovative mine safety technologies.

(2) If it is determined by the director that any item of
equipment or any line of equipment or class of equipment that is
listed on the list of approved innovative mine safety technology
has ceased to be innovative in concept, design, operation or
performance, or is ineffective, or has failed to meet the
expectations of the Mine Safety Technology Task Force, or has
failed to prove its value in directly minimizing workplace injuries
and fatalities in coal mines, such equipment shall be removed from
the list of approved innovative mine safety technologies that is
compiled and issued for the next succeeding periodic issuance of
the list of approved innovative mine safety technologies after such
determination has been reached.

(3) However, any eligible taxpayer who invested in such
equipment as certified eligible safety property during the time
such equipment was lawfully listed on the list of approved
innovative mine safety technologies, shall not forfeit the credit
authorized by this article as a result of the delisting of the
equipment under either subdivision (1) or subdivision (2) of this
subsection, so long as the requirements of this article are
otherwise fulfilled by the taxpayer for entitlement to the credit.

§11-13BB-5. Amount of credit allowed.

(a)Credit allowed. -– There is allowed to eligible taxpayers
a credit against the taxes imposed by articles twenty-three and
twenty-four of this chapter. The amount of credit shall be
determined as provided in this section.

(b) Amount of credit allowable. -- The amount of allowable
credit under this article is equal to fifty percent of the
qualified investment (as determined in section six of this
article), and shall reduce the business franchise tax imposed under
article twenty-three of this chapter and the corporation net income
tax imposed under article twenty-four of this chapter, in that
order, subject to the following conditions and limitations:

(1) The amount of credit allowable is applied over a five-year
period, at the rate of one-fifth thereof per taxable year,
beginning with the taxable year in which the eligible safety
property is first placed in service or use in this state.

(2) Business franchise tax. -- The credit is applied to reduce
the business franchise tax imposed under article twenty-three of
this chapter (determined after application of the credits against
tax provided in section seventeen, article twenty-three of this
chapter, but before application of any other allowable credits
against tax). The amount of annual credit allowed will not reduce
the business franchise tax, imposed under article twenty-three of
this chapter, below fifty percent of the amount which would be
imposed for such taxable year in the absence of this credit against
tax.

(3) Corporation net income tax. –- After application of
subdivision (2) of this subsection, any unused credit is next
applied to reduce the corporation net income tax imposed under
article twenty-four of this chapter (determined before application
of any other allowable credits against tax). The amount of annual
credit allowed will not reduce corporation net income tax, imposed
under article twenty-four of this chapter, below fifty percent of
the amount which would be imposed for such taxable year in the
absence of this credit against tax.

(4) Pass-through entities. -- (A) If the eligible taxpayer is
a limited liability company, small business corporation or a
partnership, then any unused credit (after application of
subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection) is allowed as a credit
against the taxes imposed by article twenty-four of this chapter on
owners of the eligible taxpayer on the conduit income directly
derived from the eligible taxpayer by its owners. Only those
portions of the tax imposed by article twenty-four of this chapter
that are imposed on income directly derived by the owner from the
eligible taxpayer are subject to offset by this credit.

(B) The amount of annual credit allowed will not reduce
corporation net income tax, imposed under article twenty-four of
this chapter, below fifty percent of the amount which would be
imposed on the conduit income directly derived from the eligible
taxpayer by each owner for such taxable year in the absence of this
credit against the taxes.

(5) Small business corporations, limited liability companies,
partnerships and other unincorporated organizations shall allocate
any unused credit (after application of subdivisions (2) and (3) of
this subsection) among their members in the same manner as profits
and losses are allocated for the taxable year; and

(6) No credit is allowed under this article against any tax
imposed by article twenty-one of this chapter.

(c) No carryover to a subsequent taxable year or carryback to
a prior taxable year is allowed for the amount of any unused
portion of any annual credit allowance. Such unused credit is
forfeited.

(d) No tax credit is allowed or may be applied under this
article until the taxpayer seeking to claim the tax credit has:

(1) Filed, with the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and
Training, a written application for certification of the proposed
tax credit; and

(2) Received, from the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and
Training, certification of the amount of tax credit to be allocated
to the eligible taxpayer.

(e) No more than $5 million of the tax credits allowed under
this article shall be allocated by the Office of Miners' Health,
Safety and Training during any fiscal year. The Office of Miners'
Health, Safety and Training shall allocate the tax credits in the
order the applications therefor are received.

(f) The total amount of tax credit that may be used in any
taxable year by any eligible taxpayer in combination with the
owners of the eligible taxpayer under this article may not exceed
$100,000.

(g) Applications for certification of the proposed tax credit
shall contain such information and be in such detail and in such
form as may be required by the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and
Training.

(h) The Tax Commissioner may prescribe such forms and
schedules as may be necessary or appropriate for effective,
efficient and lawful administration of this article.

(i) Notwithstanding the provisions of section five-d, article
ten of this chapter, and notwithstanding any other provision of
this code, the Tax Commissioner and Office of Miners' Health,
Safety and Training may exchange such tax information and other
information as may be determined by the Tax Commissioner to be
useful and necessary for the effective oversight and administration
of the credit authorized pursuant to this article.

§11-13BB-6. Qualified investment.

(a) General. -– The qualified investment is one hundred
percent of the cost for eligible safety property pursuant to a
qualified purchase, which is placed in service or use in this state
by the eligible taxpayer during the tax year.

(b) Placed in service or use.-- For purposes of the credit
allowed by this article, property is considered placed in service
or use in the earlier of the following taxable years:

(1) The taxable year in which, under the taxpayer's
depreciation practice, the period for federal income tax
depreciation with respect to the property begins; or

(2) The taxable year in which the property is placed in a
condition or state of readiness and availability for a specifically
assigned function.

(c) Cost. -– For purposes of this article, the cost for
eligible safety property pursuant to a qualified purchase is
determined under the following rules:

(1) Trade-ins. –- Cost for eligible safety property will not
include the value of property given in trade or exchange for
eligible safety property pursuant to a qualified purchase;

(2) Damaged, destroyed or stolen property. -– If eligible
safety property is damaged or destroyed by fire, flood, storm or
other casualty, or is stolen, then the cost for replacement of such
eligible safety property, will not include any insurance proceeds
received in compensation for the loss;

(3) Rental property. -– The cost for eligible safety property
acquired by lease for a term of at least five years or longer is
one hundred percent of the rent reserved for the primary term of
the lease, not to exceed ten years;

(4) Property purchased for multiple use. -– Any cost of
acquisition of property that is not principally and directly used
to minimize workplace injuries and fatalities in a coal mine does
not qualify as qualified investment for purposes of this article.

§11-13BB-7. Forfeiture of unused tax credits.

Disposition of property or cessation of use. -- If during any
taxable year, property with respect to which a tax credit has been
allowed under this article:

(1) Is disposed of prior to the end of the fourth tax year
subsequent to the end of the tax year in which the property was
placed in service or use; or

(2) Ceases to be used in a coal mine of the eligible taxpayer
in this state prior to the end of the fourth tax year subsequent to
the end of the tax year in which the property was placed in service
or use, then the unused portion of the credit allowed for such
property is forfeited for the tax year in which the disposition or
cessation of use occurred and all ensuing years.

(a) Mere change in form of business. -– Certified eligible
safety property may not be treated as disposed of under section
seven of this article, by reason of a mere change in the form of
conducting the business as long as the certified eligible safety
property is retained in a business in this state for use in a coal
mine in West Virginia, and the taxpayer retains a controlling
interest in the successor business. In this event, the successor
business is allowed to claim the amount of credit still available
with respect to the certified eligible safety property transferred,
and the taxpayer (transferor) may not be required to forfeit the
credit for the years remaining at the time of transfer in the
original ten-year credit period.

(b) Transfer or sale to successor. -– Certified eligible
safety property will not be treated as disposed of under section
seven of this article by reason of any transfer or sale to a
successor business which continues to use the certified eligible
safety property in a coal mine in West Virginia. Upon transfer or
sale, the successor shall acquire the amount of credit that remains
available under this article in the original ten-year credit
period for each subsequent taxable year, and the taxpayer
(transferor) shall not be required to forfeit the credit for such
subsequent years. Upon transfer or sale, the successor shall
acquire the amount of credit that remains available under this
article for each taxable year subsequent to the taxable year of the
transferor during which the transfer occurred and, for the year of
transfer, an amount of annual credit for the year in the same
proportion as the number of days remaining in the transferor's
taxable year bears to the total number of days in the taxable year
and the taxpayer (transferor) shall not be required to redetermine
the amount of credit allowed in earlier years.

§11-13BB-9. Identification of investment credit property.

Every taxpayer who claims credit under this article shall
maintain sufficient records to establish the following facts for
each item of certified eligible safety property:

(1) Its identity;

(2) Its actual or reasonably determined cost;

(3) Its straight-line depreciation life;

(4) The month and taxable year in which it was placed in
service;

(5) The amount of credit taken; and

(6) The date it was disposed of or otherwise ceased to be
actively and directly used in a coal mine in this state.

A taxpayer who does not keep the records required for
certified eligible safety property and the credit authorized under
this article, is subject to the following rules:

(1) A taxpayer is treated as having disposed of, during the
taxable year, any certified eligible safety property which the
taxpayer cannot establish was still on hand and used in a coal mine
in this state at the end of that year; and

(2) If a taxpayer cannot establish when certified eligible
safety property reported for purposes of claiming this credit
returned during the taxable year was placed in service, the
taxpayer is treated as having placed it in service in the most
recent prior year in which similar property was placed in service,
unless the taxpayer can establish that the property placed in
service in the most recent year is still on hand and used in a coal
mine in this state at the end of that year. In that event, the
taxpayer will be treated as having placed the returned property in
service in the next most recent year.

§11-13BB-11. Tax credit review and accountability.

(a) Beginning on August 1, 2012, and August 1 of every third
year thereafter, the Tax Commissioner shall submit to the Governor,
the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
Delegates a tax credit review and accountability report evaluating
the cost of the credit allowed under this article during the most
recent three-year period for which information is available. The
criteria to be evaluated includes, but is not limited to, for each
year of the three-year period:

(1) The numbers of taxpayers claiming the credit; and

(2) The cost of the credit;

(b) Taxpayers claiming the credit shall provide whatever
information the Tax Commissioner may require to prepare the report:
Provided, That the information is subject to the confidentiality
and disclosure provisions of sections five-d and five-s, article
ten of this chapter. If, in any reporting period under this
section, fewer than ten eligible taxpayers have taken or applied
for the credit authorized under this article, then no report shall
be filed for that reporting period under this section.

§11-13BB-12. Disclosure of tax credits.

Notwithstanding section five-d, article ten of this chapter or
any other provision in this code to the contrary, the Tax
Commissioner shall annually publish in the State Register the name
and address of every eligible taxpayer and the amount of any tax
credit asserted under this article.

§11-13BB-13. Rules.

The Tax Commissioner and the Office of Miners' Health, Safety
and Training may each promulgate rules in accordance with article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to carry out the policy
and purposes of this article, to provide any necessary
clarification of the provisions of this article and to efficiently
provide for the general administration of this article.

§11-13BB-14. Severability.

(a) If any provision of this article or the application
thereof shall for any reason be adjudged by any court of competent
jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair
or invalidate the remainder of said article, but shall be confined
in its operation to the provision thereof directly involved in the
controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered, and
the applicability of such provision to other persons or
circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

(b) If any provision of this article or the application
thereof shall be made invalid or inapplicable by reason of the
failure of the Legislature to enact any statute therein addressed
or referred to, or by reason of the repeal or any other
invalidation of any statute therein addressed or referred to, such
failure to reenact on such repeal or invalidation of any such
statute shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of the
said article, but shall be confined in its operation to the
provision thereof directly involved with, pertaining to, addressing
or referring to the said statute, and the application of such
provision with regard to other statutes or in other instances not
affected by any such invalid or repealed statute shall not be
abrogated or diminished in any way.

§22A-1-4. Powers and duties of the Director of the Office of
Miners' Health, Safety and Training.

(a) The Director of the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and
Training is hereby empowered and it is his or her duty to
administer and enforce such provisions of this chapter relating to
health and safety inspections and enforcement and training in
surface and underground coal mines, underground clay mines, open
pit mines, cement manufacturing plants and underground limestone
and sandstone mines.

(b) The Director of the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and
Training has full charge of the division. The director has the
power and duty to:

(1) Supervise and direct the execution and enforcement of the
provisions of this article.

(2) Employ such assistants, clerks, stenographers and other
employees as may be necessary to fully and effectively carry out
his or her responsibilities and fix their compensation, except as
otherwise provided in this article.

(3) Assign mine inspectors to divisions or districts in
accordance with the provisions of section eight of this article as
may be necessary to fully and effectively carry out the provisions
of this law, including the training of inspectors for the
specialized requirements of surface mining, shaft and slope sinking
and surface installations and to supervise and direct such mine
inspectors in the performance of their duties.

(4) Suspend, for good cause, any such mine inspector without
compensation for a period not exceeding thirty days in any calendar
year.

(5) Prepare report forms to be used by mine inspectors in
making their findings, orders and notices, upon inspections made in
accordance with this article.

(6) Hear and determine applications made by mine operators for
the annulment or revision of orders made by mine inspectors, and to
make inspections of mines, in accordance with the provisions of
this article.

(7) Cause a properly indexed permanent and public record to be
kept of all inspections made by himself or by mine inspectors.

(8) Make annually a full and complete written report of the
administration of the office to the Governor and the Legislature of
the state for the year ending June 30. The report shall include
the number of visits and inspections of mines in the state by mine
inspectors, the quantity of coal, coke and other minerals
(excluding oil and gas) produced in the state, the number of
individuals employed, number of mines in operation, statistics with
regard to health and safety of persons working in the mines
including the causes of injuries and deaths, improvements made,
prosecutions, the total funds of the office from all sources
identifying each source of such funds, the expenditures of the
office, the surplus or deficit of the office at the beginning and
end of the year, the amount of fines collected, the amount of fines
imposed, the value of fines pending, the number and type of
violations found, the amount of fines imposed, levied and turned
over for collection, the total amount of fines levied but not paid
during the prior year, the titles and salaries of all inspectors
and other officials of the office, the number of inspections made
by each inspector, the number and type of violations found by each
inspector. Provided, ThatHowever,no inspector may be identified
by name in this report. Such reports shall be filed with the
Governor and the Legislature on or before December 31 of the same
year for which it was made, and shall upon proper authority be
printed and distributed to interested persons.

(9) Call or subpoena witnesses, for the purpose of conducting
hearings into mine fires, mine explosions or any mine accident; to
administer oaths and to require production of any books, papers,
records or other documents relevant or material to any hearing,
investigation or examination of any mine permitted by this chapter.
Any witness so called or subpoenaed shall receive $40 per diem and
shall receive mileage at the rate of $0.15 For each mile actually
traveled, which shall be paid out of the State Treasury upon a
requisition upon the State Auditor, properly certified by such
witness.

(10) Institute civil actions for relief, including permanent
or temporary injunctions, restraining orders or any other
appropriate action in the appropriate federal or state court
whenever any operator or the operator's agent violates or fails or
refuses to comply with any lawful order, notice or decision issued
by the director or his or her representative.

(11) Perform all other duties which are expressly imposed upon
him or her by the provisions of this chapter.

(12) Impose reasonable fees upon applicants taking tests
administered pursuant to the requirements of this chapter.

(13) Impose reasonable fees for the issuance of certifications
required under this chapter.

(14) Prepare study guides and other forms of publications
relating to mine safety and charge a reasonable fee for the sale of
the publications.

(15) Make all records of the office open for inspection of
interested persons and the public.

(c) The Director of the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and
Training, or his or her designee, upon receipt of the list of
approved innovative mine safety technologies from the Mine Safety
Technology Task force, has thirty days to approve or amend the
list as provided in section four, article thirteen-bb, chapter
eleven of this code. At the expiration of the time period, the
director shall publish the list of approved innovative mine safety
technologies as provided in section four, article thirteen-bb,
chapter eleven of this code.

ARTICLE 11. MINE SAFETY TECHNOLOGY.

§22A-11-3. Task force powers and duties.

(a) The task force shall provide technical and other
assistance to the office related to the implementation of the new
technological requirements set forth in the provisions of section
fifty-five, article two, of this chapter, as amended and reenacted
during the regular session of the Legislature in the year 2006, and
requirements for other mine safety technologies.

(b) The task force, working in conjunction with the director,
shall continue to study issues regarding the commercial
availability, the functional and operational capability and the
implementation, compliance and enforcement of the following
protective equipment:

(1) Self-contained self-rescue devices, as provided in
subsection (f), section fifty-five, article two of this chapter;

(4) Market forces impacting the development of new
technologies, including issues regarding the costs of research and
development, regulatory certification and incentives designed to
stimulate the marketplace.

(d) On or before July 1 of each year, the task force shall
submit a report to the Governor and the Board of Coal Mine Health
and Safety that shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) A comprehensive overview of issues regarding the
implementation of the new technological requirements set forth in
the provisions of section fifty-five, article two of this chapter,
or rules promulgated in accordance with the law;

(2) A summary of any emerging technological advances that
would improve coal mine health and safety;

(3) Recommendations, if any, for the enactment, repeal or
amendment of any statute which would enhance technological
advancement in coal mine health and safety; and

(4) Any other information the task force considers
appropriate.

(e) In performing its duties, the task force shall, where
possible, consult with, among others, mine engineering and mine
safety experts, radiocommunication and telemetry experts and
relevant state and federal regulatory personnel.

(f) Appropriations to the task force commission and to
effectuate the purposes of this article shall be made to one or
more budget accounts established for that purpose.

(g) The task force shall annually compile a proposed list of
approved innovative mine safety technologies and transmit the list
to the Director of the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and
Training as provided in section four, article thirteen-bb, chapter
eleven of this code.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow for a tax credit
for coal companies that purchase innovative safety technology that
is compiled by the Mine Safety Technology Task Force and approved
by the Director of the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health,
Safety and Training. The bill makes legislative findings and
purpose and defines terms. The bill sets forth requirements for a
list of approved innovative mine safety technology. The bill
specifies the amount of tax credit allowed. The bill establishes
the criteria for qualified investments. The bill specifies
forfeiture of unused tax credits. The bill specifies treatment for
transfer of certified eligible safety property to successors. The
bill also sets forth requirements for identification of investment
credit property. The bill prescribes treatment for failure to keep
records of certified eligible safety property. The bill further
sets forth tax credit review and accountability requirements and
specifies the requirements for disclosure of tax credits. The bill
grants rule-making authority. The bill also amends the duties of
the Director of the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety
and Training and amends the duties of the Mine Safety Technology
Task Force.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.